Two Irish Sisters, Two Messages in Bottles

There are a few kinds of message in a bottle stories I am a sucker for. Near the top of the list are those involving kiddos, and those highlighting the plastic pollution plague in our ocean. This story does both!

Rachel and Olivia, 12 and 9 respectively, each sent a message in a bottle while on a family outing in Brittas Bay, Ireland, near Arklow, according to BBC Wales.

Surprising Photo in a Bottle Found in Belgium

Manon van der Molen is the kind of person who picks up trash off the beach. Plenty of people get upset about plastic trash at sea, mucking up our beaches. But Manon? She actually does something about it. That’s how she stumbled upon a photo in a bottle.

“My kids are amazed by all the plastic in the ocean and do not understand why people do that. See–even kids understand!” Indeed. I think kids often understand these things better than adults. It’s obvious, even to children, that too many of us are not taking care of the ocean. But we could.

So, when Manon was walking the beach with her family–her husband and three kids–on May 5th, 2017, at De Haan, Belgium, she was picking up plastic trash. That’s a great way to help! And sometimes, among the trash, we stumble upon a little “treasure”–a reward for cleaning the beach, in the form of an unexpected human connection. A reminder, perhaps, that while most of what’s floating around in the ocean is simply trash that shouldn’t be there, still…maybe, just maybe, one in a billion or so pieces of flotsam can create an amazing and beautiful connection between strangers.

NASA estimates there are about 372,000 miles of coastline in the world. That provides a LOT of space for bizarre things to wash up. 2016 did not disappoint when it came to bizarre stuff washing ashore. Here’s a list of some of the strangest beach finds of 2016. Continue reading →